Adams County IL Archives Biographies.....Davis, Captain Greenleaf H
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Barbara Freeman October 1999

"Quincy and Adams County History and Representative Men" Volume II, c. 1919
Page 745-746


CAPT. GREENLEAF H. DAVIS.  Many times the name and career of Captain Davis 
have been made subjects of articles in the general press and other 
publications.  He is a most interesting character not only in Quincy but in 
all the Middle West.  Not nearly so much romance surrounds the building of
railroads in modern times as it did when Captain Davis was a pioneer in
pushing along some of the old railway systems.  He is about the last survivor
of that group of railroad builders who constructed the old Illinois Central
and some of the main branches of what is now the great Burlington system.
Captain Davis was born in Stafford County, New Hampshire, March 16, 1834.  He
is of old New Hampshire stock.  His grandfather, Nathaniel Davis, spent his
life as a New Hampshire farmer.  Captain Davis' parents were natives of the
same state and were also farmers there during their lives.

Captain Davis was educated in New Hampshire, and lived there until about 
eighteen years old, when he came to Chicago.  In 1851 he did his first work
as a pioneer railroad builder with the old Illinois Central road while it was
being constructed from Chicago to Kankakee, Illinois.  He was at first in the
track laying department, and subsequently was assigned to charge of the 
supply department at Muddy Creek.  Such was his ability that he was able to 
reduce his working force to half and increase the efficiency of the department.  
After getting the department in working order he was assigned to superintendent
of the track laying force, and his wages were more than doubled.  He carried 
the tracks of the Illinois Central on as far as Centralia, Illinois, and about 
that time was offered the position of roadmaster.  He declined because of a 
previous contract he had made to assist in laying the rails of the old Northern 
Cross Railway, now that part of the Burlington between Galesburg and Quincy.
Captain Davis began track laying for the Northern Cross Railway in 1855, and 
had the work completed between Galesburg and Quincy by about the first of 
January, 1856.  He then accepted the responsibility of laying the track on
the old Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway, a distance of 206 miles across the
northern half of Missouri.  He was three years in building this pioneer line,
and when it was completed he was offered and accepted the position of 
railroad stock agent at St. Joseph.  Later he was made stock agent for the
entire road between Chicago and St. Joseph.  He has seen practically all the
changes in management and extension of these early railway lines until they 
now compose part of one of the biggest systems in the United States.  Captain
Davis continued for thirty-six years in the service of the Chicago, 
Burlington and Quincy.  For a time he was under General Superintendent J. T.
K. Haywood, later for a short time under C. W. Meade, and also served under 
General Superintendent W. C. Brown, John C. Carsons and other men whose names
are household words in railroad affairs.  In 1898 Captain Davis became claim 
agent for the road and filled that office for ten years with headquarters at 
St. Joseph.

During that time Judge O. M. Spencer was general solicitor of the Burlington 
System.

Captain Davis finally retired after more than half a century of railroad work 
in July, 1908, and has since lived quietly at his old home at 425 North 5th 
Street in Quincy.  Fifty years ago he built a part of this residence, and it
was subsequently enlarged and remodeled in 1876.

If the experiences of Captain Davis were written out in detail it could 
easily be enlarged to a book, and would be a fairly complete history of 
railroad building and extension and operation through the Middle West.  One 
incident that may properly be recalled even in this brief sketch is that it
was under his orders that the first railroad engine was loaded on the boat
Denver at St. Joseph, Missouri, to be used by General Manager H. B. Hoxey on
the Union Pacific Railroad when that great transcontinental system was in 
course of construction.

On September 2, 1862, he was commissioned captain of Company H of the 
Thirty-eighth Missouri Regiment, but as his duties were already of a military
character he was a captain with special detail and detached service, giving
his time chiefly to duties as roadmaster.  His commission as captain bears 
date of July 27, 1864.

At Galesburg, Illinois, in September, 1855, Captain Davis married Miss Emily 
Hilton.  She was born in New York State, daughter of Richard Hilton, of an 
old family of that name in New York State.  Her father was for many years a
farmer at Galesburg, Illinois, and later located to Washington County, 
Kansas, where he died.  His widow, Caroline, survived him and died at the
home of Captain and Mrs. Davis in Quincy at the age of seventy-five.  Both
are now at rest in the cemetery at Galesburg, Illinois.  Mrs. Davis died at
Quincy in 1900.  They had one daughter, Carrie L., who was born and reared 
and educated in Quincy and is now the widow of Morris F. Murphy, who died in
one of the western states several years ago.  Mrs. Murphy has a daughter, 
Anna L., who is a graduate of the Quincy High School and attended college at
Galesburg.  She and her mother live with Captain Davis.

Captain Davis among other property interests owns 540 acres of land in 
Caldwell County, Missouri, a well improved farm.  For over sixty years 
Captain Davis has been a Mason, and is one of the oldest members of that
order in the state.  He took his first degrees in 1857 in a lodge in Macon
County, Missouri.  For over half a century his membership has been with Bodly
Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Quincy.  He entered that 
lodge when John Sylvester was its master.  Captain Davis is also a Royal Arch
Mason.


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